CeNCOOS will be holding the annual election for its Governing Council (GC) in mid-September 2015. We are actively soliciting nominations for five vacant seats and encourage you to consider nominating yourself or a colleague for a position on the Council.

NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) intends to support eleven Regional Associations to operate ocean observing systems during the five year period 2016-2021. Like the previous five-year award, the IOOS FFO presents a great opportunity for our region to develop and maintain observing systems and conduct science that supports people and decision-making. The 2011-2015 award is currently the largest source of CeNCOOS support (about $2.3M/yr) but in itself is insufficient to meet our ocean observing needs, and all regional IOOS associations depend on partnerships and leveraged resources. Through the IOOS grant, we expect to make available funds for projects contributed by individuals and teams of investigators (approx. 5-15 sub-awards). These projects will be chosen from community submitted expressions of interest. Expressions should align with CeNCOOS strategies as detailed in our Strategic Plan. We anticipate tough competition for sub-award funding under this potential IOOS grant. We encourage submission of EOIs that meet CeNCOOS goals and align with core objectives so that those projects can be considered given potential IOOS funding increases and additional upcoming funding opportunities.

Thank you to everyone that helped make the 2015 CeNCOOS Winter Meeting such a success! We are particularly thankful to the the NOAA SWFSC in Santa Cruz for hosting, the CeNCOOS Governing Council for their continued dedication, all of our presenters and panelists, and everyone that took the time to give us feedback

We are pleased to announce that the CeNCOOS 5-year Strategic Plan is now available to the public. The strategies laid out in the plan are the culmination of a priority setting process that began in 2012. This process has been an important one for our organization, and we are confident that the plan provides the backbone for maintaining our core efforts while continuing to grow as a system. Strategic Plan.